Hfiocam vsisaz&asaaa*. 1 I'own opic§ iH-S It is not known just what the Christmas Day bill of fare usually consists of in the local jail but at any rate no one appeared anx ious to find out by spending th-> day there. There were no arrests in Plymouth Christmas and Police Chief P. W. Brown stated that it was the quietest holiday period in his recollection. Work is progressing steadily on the new Esso Servicenter being erected at the corner of Main and Washington Streets here but ■ great amount of work remains to be done. It was stated this week that the construction is hoped to be completed by the last of Feb ruary. It will be operated by Mack Marrow. Today and tomorrow being the fifth Thursday and Friday of the month there is no meeting sched uled tonight (Thursday) for mem bers of the Plymouth Lions Club and the Bosie Bateman Post No. 4023. Veterans of Foreign Wars and tomorrow night (Friday) for ftembers of the James E. Jethro bst No. 164. American Legion. The Lions Club and VFW will meet at their respective places next Thursday night, January 5. The next meeting for the Americ an Legion is Friday night, Jan uary 13. Police Chief P. W. Brown states that workers will begin taking down Christmas decorations from the streets of Plymouth Monday morning. The multi-colored lights will be carefully stored away for use next Christmas holiday sea son. The lights were hung under me supervision oi i^mei .Drown. License Bureau Sales Have Been Very Slow Here Only 317 Sels of Plales Is ^ sued Through Wednes day; Deadline January 31, 1950 Up to Tuesday, 317 sets of North Carolina license plates of all types had been issue through the branch auto license bureau re cently established here, according to figures obtained from F. G. Jordan, jr„ manager of the bu reau. Sales appear to be definite ly lagging when it is considered that less than five weeks remain in which to operate a motor ve hicle displaying the old plates and that the Motor Vehicle Bureau in Raleigh estimated the needs of the local branch at 3,380 sets. Plates issued thus far, includ ing sales through Wednesday, are listed according to categories as follows: Automobiles, 242; motor cycles, 5; private trucks, 38; farm trucks, 10; class Z (small) trail ers, 22; class C (commercial) trailers, none. The number of sets sent to the bureau here, listed according to categories, follows: Automobile. | 2,500; private truck, 500; farm j H truck, 100: motorcycle, 25; small trailer, 200; and comercial trail er, 55. Mr. Jordan points out that it costs the same amount to secure license plates regardless of the time and that it is to the interest of everyone concerned to secure licenses early. If the majority of the motor vehicle owmers put off j getting their license plates until j near the deadline, it will mean |1 that the local bureau will be un- 11 able to give the fast service it 1 would like to extend the public. 1 Therefore, the bureau manager J urges everyone to come in as soon as possible and get the job 1 done. The deadline is January ! i 31. 1 .Christmas Holiday Period Was ; *Very Quiet Throughout County) General behavior in Plymoutl and Washington County was verj good over the Christmas holiday season, according to reports fron Sheriff J. K. Reid, Plymouth Po lice Chief P. W. Brown and othei law enforcement officers. Police Chief Brown says tha not a single arrest was made bj his department over the Christ mas holiday week-end and that the only persons taking theii Christmas dinner at the local jail i were inmates already incarcerat •' ed before the holiday period be ,1 gan and who are awaiting trial at the January term of superior court, which convenes here on Monday, January 9. No fires wene reported in Plym outh, -and the usual drunken scrapes, such as cutting and shoot ing affairs did not materialize. There were three automobile ac cidents reported in the county during the period, with one fatal ity and one rather serious injury. j Considerable damage was done to | the two automobiles involved in another wreck near here Monday night, but no one was hurt. More complete accounts of these wrecks are to be found elsewhere in this newspaper. r v V v w IX Sheriff Reid state that it is very gratifying to find such little trou ble cropping up at this particular season of the year, as it is usu ally a time when a good deal of excitement takes place. tl ei A d: w a: vx>ooovm vw/xr-.r—... • ^sysssssjvssssssM^&JWj&smvxACS, xs/jvs^. ., .xrrtnr vZWjVvZZAC*w‘ ke Beacon * * * * + * and Washington County News *★★*** «£22KiaaSSv. ■»■ ■'xuaxasi. A home newspaper dedicated to the service of Washington County and its 13,000 people. VOLUME LX—NUMBER 52 Plymouth, Washington County, North Caiolina, Thursday, December 29, 1949 ESTABLISHED 1889 The New Year, "reviving old desires," and some thing the poet never mentioned — old resolutions, is be ing trumpeted in. It is accorded this fanfare because it is more than a day in "this petty pace" and continuity of life. It is a brief halt and a starting over. It is the abandonment of despair and the donning of hope. It is a social time. We of this newspaper join all of you in the celebration. We want to attend the wake for 1949 and the birth of 1950 with all the blare of horns and laughter. Also in your fellowship, we pray that the world may achieve its goal of peace in 1950 and that our commun ity see fulfilled all its plans for betterment. Strictly on our own, we wish for you a — '/ Qf „r~jzr~ Details Shape Up for nsus i Residents Urged j I Pay Taxes Early] Plymouth residents have been reminded by P. W. Brown, local police chief, that their town taxes are now payable at par and will be until February 1, after which 1 per cent interest will be charged to delinquent payers. March 1 another 1 per cent interest accrues and V< of 1 per cent interest will be add ed for each additional month thereafter. This schedule of in terest is charged by law and ap plies as well to state and county taxes. Mr. Brown has urged all citi zens to appear at the office of the town clerk and pay their taxes as soon as possible and thus avoid the interest Plymouth High to Meet Roper Here Coach Joe Foster wiil send his Plymouth High School basketball learns into their first post-holiday encounters at the high school gymnasium here next Tuesday light. The locals entertain Rop ;r High School teams, and it is eported that the Bantams—the Roper girls’ aggregation—are un lefeated this season. Plymouth teams have played wo games thus far this season, )oth encounters with Jamesville aefore the Christmas holidays. | lamesville girls and boys edged iut the locals at Jamesville and idministered sound lickings to the ’lymouth teams in return games lere. Next Friday, January 6, the. ’lymouth teams begin their con erence schedule by meeting Co umbia here. Services Of 150,000 People Will Be Needed To Handle Big Task, Beginning on April 1 Next Year The Bureau of the Census will hold the mirror up to the nation and its progress next Spring when it conducts the 17th Decennial Census. A variety of interesting and important facts will be collected concerning the population and the economy, all testifying to the na tion’s remarkable growth and ex pansion. But of even deeper sig nificance in view of the trend of the times, the Census will pro vide fresh evidence of the dynam ics of a free and demoncratic so ciety, and will thus represent a tribute to what the American peo ple have accomplished by self re liance, enterprise, hard work and thrift. The official starting date for the count is April, but it will actu ally get underway earlier in Alas ka so that those who live in re mote regions, like Eskimos in their villages above the Arctic Circle, can be reached before the Spring thaw. The overall cost is estimated at about $85 millions, over double the cost of the 1940 Census. Much of this increase is due to the rise in the price level since prewar. Back in 1790, when the first Census was taken, the job was done by 17 U. S. marshals and 600 assistants. At that time the infant Republic, which had won its free dom from Britain less than a dec ade before, consisted of only 16 dates and two thinly-settled re gions, the Northwest and South- ■ ivest Territories. Florida and the 1 ivhole area west of the Missis- < >nd agricultural. t (See CENSUS, Page Seven) * Liquor Sales Off At County Stores prom However, Average Is Stil Nearly $1,300 Daily foi Seven Days Preceding Christmas Total sales of liquor at th( county ABC stores for the sever sale days preceding Christmas showed a decided drop for th( third year in a row, according tc information just released by Bil Styons, manager of the Plymouth store. Mr. Styons attributes the reduced business partly to the scarcity of money hereabouts anc partly to the prevalence of boot leg whiskey in the county. Sales in the Plymouth ABC store for December 17, 19, 20, 21 22, 23 and 24 totalled $9,075,35 or $3,008.60 less than the $12,083.95 reported for the correspondinc period a year ago. The 1947 total for the same period was $14,006. 95. It was the same story at the Creswell ABC store where the 1948 total sales for the 7 davs preceding Christmas was $1,792. 80 and the figure for the same period this year was $1,429.25 or $363.55 less than a year ago. The 1947 figure at Creswell was $1, 961.40. From these figures it ap pears that business was off more in Plymouth than in Creswell. rhis was also the case last year ivhen the drop in business at the Plymouth store for the period checked was 14 per cent and that at Creswell was 10 per cent. This /ear the drop at Plymouth was 25 ser cent and that at Creswell, 20 )er cent. It is interesting to note that vith one exception sales at the ’lymouth store climbed each day luring the period with the final wo days capping it at $1,617.00 nd $3,114.65. respectively. The inal day’s sales at Creswell to alled $596.85. The Christmas Eve ale at Plymouth was far below he record shattering sales for he same day in 1947 when $5, 24.00 was taken in for an aver ge of $11.72 per minute through ut the day. oil Technicians Working To Finish Annual Reports Soil technicians are busily en aged in completing their annual ?ports, it was announced htis eek from the office of the rashington County Soil Conser stion Service, and no outside ork will be done for the re ainder of the year. Immediately after the first of ie new year conservation work 's will begin on their new goals, lready, a good bit of work in •ainage has been mapped out hich will be completed as soon possible. Negro Bicyclist Is Fatally Injured in Crash Last Week Johnny Basnight Suffers Skull Fracture W h e r Struck by Car Driven By Plymouth Man Johnny Basnight. 52 year ole Negro of Roper, died instantly of a fractured skull when the bi cycle he was riding was struck by a car driven by Ernest Whit ley of Plymouth last Wednesday afternoon about 5 o’clock. The ac cident occurred about 1 mile west of Roper on U. S. highway 64. Basnight and another colored man were riding bicycles in the direction of Roper and traveling on their left hand side of the high way. Whitley, with four othei local men. was returning tc PI vmnntb frnm Pr?r>ntr\n lftiorf j he is employed at the Marine Aii Base. The other Negro on a bi I cycle turned off on the shouldei of the road and Basnight swerved his bicycle to the right into the path of the oncoming car. He was struck by the right headlamp and , thrown across the hood of the cai to the windshield. The bicycle was demolished by the impact Whitley's ran aq — on tf car, a 1942 Mercury oss the road to the ditch i other side. The wreck was investigated b> Coroner Jack Horner and State highway patrolman R. W. Young ly mouth. The coroner talked ises present and ruled t unavoidable, deem _est unnecessary. Dam age sustained by the car was ap proximately $150. County Boards to Meet January 9 The board of county commis sioners and the Washington Coun ty Board of Education which cus tomarily meet on the first Mon day in each month will not meet Monday, January 2 but will ob serve the New Year's holiday and convene the following Monday, January 9, at their respective meeting places in the county courthouse here. Business to be taken up by the two boards at their meetings is expected to be of a routine na ture. The Plymouth Town Council will meet Monday night, January 2 at 8 o’clock in the office of the town clerk. -♦— Recorder's Court Session Called Off Here Tuesday -♦ Due to the holiday season, there was no session of Recorders Court here Tuesday. The court will next be in session Tuesday. January 3 and it is likely that there will be a rather heavy docket of cases to be heard. The following Monday. January 9, Superior Court will convene, thereby necessitating a postponement of the regular Tues day morning session of Record ers Court until Tuesday, January 17. Roper Man Hurls Leg in Accidenl William Elmer Phelps, 55, of j the Holly Neck section near Rop- ' er, sustained a fractured right leg i jusi ueiow mo nip wnon me iy.iu Oldsmobile sedan in which he was ! traveling from Skinnersville to j Roper failed to make a curve and j plowed into a swamp, hitting one ' tree head-on and side-swiping an- j other. The accident occurred at, 5:15 p.m. Monday near Bateman’s !: Garage and was investigated by i Highway Patrolman R. W. Young ' of Plymouth. j l The injured man was treated 1 by a Plymouth physician and car- I :ied by ambulance to an Edenton oospital. He is expected to be confined there for some time. i Estimated damage to the car 1 vas fixed by the investigating i officer at $300. Phelps is under < ndictment for driving while un- i ier the influence of intoxicating oeverages and will be brought to 1 ;rial as soon as he has sufficiently < •ecovered from his injuries. ] Tax Listing m County To Get Underway Next Week i ^li&nciav 1* Lasi llav ok* • • i lhkcki* and Ileai*S<*as€m With the open season on bear i and deer ending Monday, Janu- j ary 2, it is expected that there - will be considerable activity the « remainder of this week among those who like to hunt the big ger game. The open season on squirrels expires in Washington county on January 2 also. The season for hunting opossum and : raccoon with gun and dogs will expire February 1, two weeks, sooner than was the case a year ago. Rabbits, quail and turkey may be taken lawfully through j January 31. This is an extension: >ver last year when the season dosed January 10. Under last 'ear's regulations ruffed grouse ■ould lawfully be taken through ranuary 10 but this year the sea son closes January 2. A change has also been made n trapping regulations. Trapping or otter, mink, muskrat, opos ;um and raccon may be lawfully lone through January 31. Last ;eason the closing date for otter vas the same but the season on he other species extended hrough February 15. There is no )pen season for trapping beaver. Places and Dates For Tax Listing in Period io Begin in Washing- j ion County Monday and Will End on January 31, Schedules have been received by County Tax Collector E. J. Spruill from three of the four tax listers appointed by the county board of commissioners to take listings of all taxable properties in the county for 1949. The sched ule of W. W. White of Skinners ville Township could not be learn ed as this newspaper went to press. Reporting their schedules were Clarence L. Blount, Plym outh Township; R. W. Lewis, Lees Mill Township; and P. B. Belanga, Scuppernong Township. Actual work of listing will begin Tuesday, January 3 and continue through January 31. Listers and their locations as announced by Mr. Spruill will be as follows: Plymouth Township— Clarence L. Blount, in the office of the town clerk in Plymouth every listing day in the month: Scuppernong Township—P. B. Belanga will sit at Cherry on January 4, 11, 18 and 25: at New lands on January 12 and 26 and at Creswell on all other listing I days during the month. Lees Mill Township—R. W. Lewis will sit at W. B. Daven- I Scheduled 1950 port s Store, Mackeys, January; 12 and 19; at T. W. Tarkington's |i store, Pleasant Grove, January 9 < and 16; at T. R. Chesson’s store. I Westover, January 5 and 24; at 1 Golden Williams store, Wenona, 11 January 11 and 18; and at; 1 Knowles Grocery. Roper, all oth- 1 er days in the month. 1 The schedule for the list taker 1 in Skinnersville Township will be published as soon as it is received. 1 Patrolman Young Attends j£ Patrol Meet in Washington i State Highway Patrolman R. a W. Young, of Plymouth, was in F Washington Wednesday attend- e ing a highway patrol division meeting presided over by Sgt. , b C. R. Williams, of the patrol, sta-|n tioned in Washington. a L & M Licenses Good Only Few More Days The time expires at midnight Saturday, December 31, for all irivers whose surnames begin eith the letters L or M to renew heir operators' licenses. This icriod began last July 1 and is egally known as Period No. 5. Period No. 6 begins January 1, 950, and will extend through nidnight June 30. During this I leriod all drivers whose sur lames begin with the letters N, ), P and Q are required to re iew their operators’ licenses. As a general rule, motorists are ’ery slow to renew’ their licenses luring the first part of any given >eriod, but usually wait until near the deadline. As a result 1 of this inclination, a last-minute 11 rush almost invariably takes 1 place, working a hardship on both i license examiners and motorists. The license examiner for this ( area maintains a weekly sched ule in Plymouth and may be found at the office of the police department in the Municipal Building on Water Street. It is r understood that this schedule may d be changed effective January 1, 0 but the new time has not been | o announced here. Under the pres-; t ent schedule, the examiner is in ' 1 Plymouth three days weekly, j ti Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. I a ! Some Observe New Years Day All State and county offices will be closed Monday in ob servance of New Year’s. The local bank and post office will also be closed to business all day. All places of business, includ ing drug stores, restaurants, grocery, hardware, clothing, furniture and apliance stores will open for business as usual. The chain grocery stores, Pender’s and A & P, will re main open although these stores sometimes observe the holiday. They were closed for two days in observance of Christmas. Local Masons to Install Officers Tuesday Night — ' ♦—— Installation Ceremonies to Begin at 8 o'Clock; Buffet Supper Will Be Served at Lodge Hall Perseverance Lodge, No. 59, A. P. & A. M.. will hold its annual installment service at the Lodge Hall here Tuesday night, Janu ary 3, at o'clock with Robert L. Pugh of New Bern, a 33rd degree Wason and Grand Chaplain of he Grand Lodge of North Caro ina, serving as Installing Offic ■r. The following officers who vere elected in December will ie installed: W. A. Roebuck, Mas er: W. C. Hall, Senior Warden: \ V. R. Harden, Junior Warden:' !. G. Campbell, Treasurer; and 1. H. Allen, Secretary. Incoming Master Roebuck has nnounced the following list of ppointive officers to be installed t ceremonies Tuesday night: Earl '• Bowen, Senior Deacon! G. R. eggett, Junior Deacon: Hilton unbar and Harry Garrett, Stew rds: W. B. Liverman, Tiler: and . H. Lucas, Chaplain. L. E. Dox 1 is retiring Master. At 7 p. m. a Buffet Supper will 2 served in the Lodge Hall. All icmbers of Perseverance Lodge e urged to attend Farm Census Report To Be Made Again After Lapse of One Year; Livestock Prices Cited Listing of 1949 taxes will begin in Washington County on Tues day, January 3 and will continue through Tuesday. January 31. All county residents have been re' quested to list their taxes as soon as possible in order to avoid a last-minute rush. It has also been pointed out that all persons who have become 21 years of age since the last listing period are obligat ed by law to list poll taxes this year. Tax list takers in the county were appointed by the board of county commissioners early in December and the list takers and the tax supervisor for the county met with the commissioners on Monday night. December 19 as reported previously in the Bea con. At that time uniform prices were established for listing live stock. These prices were as fol lows: sheep. $3 to $5 each: goats, $2 to $3 each: poultry, 15 cents per pound; milch cows, $75 to $100: other cattle 8 to 10 cents per pound: horses. No. 1 $75 to $100; horses, No. 2, $25 to $75: meats, 15 cents per pound. Many of these prices were reduced from those listed in 1948. After a lapse of one year, the taking of a farm census from the farmers of the county will be re aumeu uy me usi taxers. It nas been customary in the past to get this information once every five years but the importance of the farm census was brought to the attention of the commission ers and list takers at the Decem ber 19 meeting. The Washington county PMA committee stated at that time that there was a possi bility that corn and soybeans might be put under government control and marketing quotas set up at a later date and that the farmers of the county could only hope to receive their rightful share in such resulting acreage allotments bv making a complete and accurate report for 1949. At the suggestion of Chairman of the board of commissioners Flank L. Brinkley a copy of a letter to that effect was furnish ed each list taker in the county, explaining why a good farm cen sus report is necessary and em phasizing the value of'such a re port to the individual farmer. ■-*-—— Bonner Nominates Plymouth Youth to Military Academy James Polk Spruill Will Take Entrance Exams in March; Alternates From Washington, Greenville James Polk Spruill, son of Mrs. M L. Nobles of Plymouth, is ' •••* nreu irom mis Congressional District who were recently recommended for ap pointment to West Point or An lapolis by Congressman Herbert r. Bonner. ^ °ung Spruill was recommend ^d for appointment to the United States Military Academy at West ’oint, N. \and two alternates vere named, one from Washing on and the other from Green 'ille. Recommendations were made or three places at Annapolis and he men named, together with al ernates, are from Greenville ■ lizabeth City, Hertford, Wash agton, Edenton and Engelhard. >oun!y Schools Resume Classes Monday Morning All the schools in Washington aunty will resume classes Mon ay morning, January 2, at the sual opening hour after enjoy a respite from studies which egan at the end of classes on uesday, December 20 and ex mded through the Christmas ad New Year’s holiday season.